Husband demands R20m from Police Minister Bheki Cele over slain wife
A HUSBAND is demanding R20 million from Police Minister Bheki Cele for the death of his wife who was allegedly shot and killed by the police.
Samuel Nta, from Tembisa in Ekurhuleni, is accusing police of shooting dead his wife and the mother of his two minor children, Sylvia Sekoadi, during a visit to one of their friends in Daveyton.
Through his lawyer, Makhakheni Mashele, Nta is demanding that Cele fork out R20m in damages, funeral costs, for the children being denied love and affection and for suffering loss of support from the income of the deceased.
In a combined summons seen by the Pretoria News, dated May 15, 2023, and addressed to the Gauteng High
Court, Pretoria, it is stated that in November last year his wife was shot by the police during a chase.
The summons read in part: “On about 12 November, the plaintiff (Nta) and his wife (Sekoadi) and three other friends were travelling to Daveyton with three other occupants in the car at night when a marked police van was travelling in front of their vehicle and during the trip, the police van ostensibly stopped in the middle of the road.
“The plaintiff then proceeded to overtake the marked police van and continued with the trip. Moments later, the police vehicle that the plaintiff had overtaken came from behind flicking its lights towards the plaintiff’s car without any sirens or blue lights.
“Gunshots were fired into the vehicle in which plaintiff, the deceased and the three mentioned occupants were travelling in.”
The summons added that Nta stopped the vehicle because of the gunshots and realised that his wife had been fatally shot and had died instantly from the police’s bullets.
According to Mashele, the two police officers, known only as Constable M Mtshweneng and L Sgidi from Etwatwa police station, were charged with murder and four counts of attempted murder.
He said the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) had opened a case under case number 82/11/2022. However, it had since gone mute.
Speaking to the Pretoria News yesterday, Mashele accused the SAPS of trying to cover up the murder.
“They were trying to pin the murder on the husband. Ipid was investigating the matter but have since gone mute, the two police officers are now back at work and the husband and two minor children have not received any communication from the SAPS nor Ipid. So we have been instructed to proceed against the minister (Cele).
“The members of the SAPS failed to uphold their legal duty of protecting members of the public, instead they put the lives of the public in danger by firing gunshots without exercising caution and in the process fatally shooting the deceased. The members of the SAPS were negligent in that they failed to keep a proper lookout of who might get shot if they fired their guns. As a result of their negligence, the deceased was hit by their bullet,” Mashele said.
The summons gave Cele 10 days from receipt of the summons to respond.
Contacted for comment, Police Ministry spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said their legal division had not responded.
Last month, the Pretoria News reported that Nomsa Ngema of Mpumalanga was also demanding R20m from Cele.
She is accusing the police of shooting her teenage daughter, Thabi Msibi, during a service delivery protest in KwaNgema, Mpumalanga, in January.